Make Friends with Father Time

Posted on 11/14/2011

Managing your time is crucial to running a successful business. If you can’t handle the work you need to get done, how can customers possibly rely on you? Educate yourself with the following time management tips for a less stressful and more productive workday, every day.

Write Away
Your to-do list should never be a mental one. Write down everything you need to accomplish to avoid forgetting something important or being overwhelmed. Cross projects off the list as you complete them. The sense of accomplishment you’ll feel for each time you draw that hard-earned line through a task will become addictive.

Prioritize Properly
After you’ve created your to-do list, rearrange it. Put the most difficult and time-consuming tasks on the top of your list, and work from that order. Working in this way helps you manage your time because our efficiency is at its peak early in the day, before fatigue or burnout sets in. Start from the top to make sure that your highest priorities get necessary time and energy.

Feel the Pinch
Most people make friends with deadlines. Even if they’re procrastinators, somehow they manage to pull it together by the time a project is due. Shrinking your deadline—like giving yourself an hour instead of two to finish something—helps you work more diligently, more quickly.

Take It Easy (Kind of)
Many mistakenly think that if they can successfully multitask something simple, like walking while talking on the phone, they can do the same with more complicated work tasks. They can’t. Resist the urge to multitask even when your to-do list is long and menacing. Finish something before moving on to another.

Name the Monster
If you begin your day knowing exactly what needs to be done but don’t complete those projects by day’s end, you need to identify what’s holding you back. Maybe you tackle easy tasks first but spend too much time on them, or perhaps the steady stream of emails to your inbox distracts you from finishing that report. Figure out the problem so that you can change your behavior.

Mindfully managing your time will help your business tremendously. Coworkers will have to follow suit to keep up with you, and customers will appreciate your speedy service. Implementing these time management tools in your workday is good for business, period.